Geeta Tripathee: Translated by Mahesh Paudyal

BIO

Dr. Geeta Tripathee is a poet, lyricist, essayist, and critic. She teaches Nepali literature at Tribhuvan University. She has written several books of poetry, essays, and literary criticism. She writes on women’s issues, environmental issues, and people in the lower strata of society. Her personal narratives show the expressions of the finest human emotions that advocate for love and humanity.

 

BIO

Mahesh Paudyal, born in 1982, is a Kathmandu based poet, story writer, critic, translator, and playwright. He has twelve books to his credit, which include stories, novels, plays, and criticism. He is also an active literary activist, and a teacher of English literature at Tribhuvan University.

 

 

 

 

 

The Paradox

I cannot rationally decide
Whether I should pick up the fallen vase
Or leave it where it is.

What has fallen is a broken trust in continuation.
Too difficult to gather everything again.
From this flower vase
An entire era has poured out today.

I can almost hear, in the soil,
The crying of infinite children,
The wailing of countless mothers.
In this vase, I can see
The ugliest face of creation.

To mourn the unexpected death
Of a thousand fetuses,
I fire up the yellow dusk,
and watch the time standing motionless.

This pale intermission
In between the light and the darkness
Blooms in the blood of many wounds,
against all hopes and beliefs,
In a paradoxical fashion.

The fallen vase
and the broken flowers
Do not pertain to the flowers and vase only.

 

बिडम्बनापूर्वक

यो ढलेको गमला
उठाऊँ कि वा यसै छाडिदिऊँ
म ठिक ठिक सोच्न सकिरहेको छैन

यसै पनि
उठाउनै नसक्ने गरी
घोप्टिएको यो विश्वासको निरन्तरता
यो गमलाबाट आज
एउटा युग सिङ्गै पोखिएको छ

मानौँ म सुनिरहेछु—
गमलाभित्रको माटोमा
असङ्ख्य बालकहरूको चित्कार
असङ्ख्य आमाहरूको रुवाबासी
यो सृष्टिको सबैभन्दा कुरूप अनुहार
यही गमलाको टुक्रा टुक्रामा छ

हजारौँ गर्भहरूको
अनपेक्षित रिक्ततामा
गमलाभरि भरि म
पहेँलो साँझ बालिरहेछु
लाग्दैछ यो समय टक्क अडिएको छ—

उज्यालो र अध्यारोबिचको
यो पहेँलो मध्यान्तर
विश्वास र आशाको विरुद्ध
फुलेको छ रक्तरञ्जित घाउहरू माझ
बिडम्बनापूर्वक !

यो गमला ढल्नु
यी फूलहरू किचिनु
मात्र गमला र फूल कहाँहो र
म गमलाको गर्भाशयबाट
सयौँ विरुवाहरूको चिहान खोतलिरहेछु।

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